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Maybe Kirk was afraid, Mitchell would ultimately become so powerful that he could force starships to come to him regardless of a quarantine zone ... or escape from Delta Vega some other way.
Or Kirk just had "issues" after Mitchell killed Kelso.

I´ve always wondered, if Mitchell was killed at all. When that rock fell on him he had already regained his power. And with his power present, not even a blast from a phaser rifle could harm him.
Just a thought ...

Maybe Kirk was afraid, Mitchell would ultimately become so powerful that he could force starships to come to him regardless of a quarantine zone ... or escape from Delta Vega some other way.
Or Kirk just had "issues" after Mitchell killed Kelso.

I´ve always wondered, if Mitchell was killed at all. When that rock fell on him he had already regained his power. And with his power present, not even a blast from a phaser rifle could harm him.
Just a thought ...

Mario

There had to be some cap on the power as the crew of the Valient did not end up detroying the Galaxy so his power must have stoped growing at some point.

Apparently, after Mitchell had killed his friend Kelso in cold blood (more like "crushed like an insect" as he had announced he would in the transporter rrom) he had crossed a line and revealed that he had become personified evil (i.e. militant selfish- and ruthlessness) and considering his powers he needed to be stopped, judged (for killing a fellow shipmate) and executed.

Kirk made that clear with what he probably thought would be his last order:

KIRK: If you have not received a signal from me within twelve hours, you'll proceed at maximum warp to the nearest Earth base with my recommendation that this entire planet be subjected to a lethal concentration of neutron radiation. No protest on this, Mark. That's an order.

Of course and most likely, the Q Continuum would have put a stop to Mitchell's rampage (where do the Q come from, did they also encounter the energy barrier?) but Kirk did it himself, so they didn't see the need to interfere.

Bob

__________________
"The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth" Jean-Luc Picard
"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." Albert Einstein

Yup, he did know that. There was no foreseeable limit to Mitchell's growth and power. Mitchell had to die or else grow so powerful, anything would be possible for him. Even getting off the planet. Either Kirk would have to do the deed, or his last order would (hopefully) take care of it.

The real question should be, "why didn't Kirk just grab the phaser rifle when Gary was normalized and blow him away instead of having a brawl?" I mean, aside from "the episode had to end with a fistfight in a ditch."

Yup, he did know that. There was no foreseeable limit to Mitchell's growth and power. Mitchell had to die or else grow so powerful, anything would be possible for him. Even getting off the planet. Either Kirk would have to do the deed, or his last order would (hopefully) take care of it.

The real question should be, "why didn't Kirk just grab the phaser rifle when Gary was normalized and blow him away instead of having a brawl?" I mean, aside from "the episode had to end with a fistfight in a ditch."

On-screen evidence suggests that Micthell flung Kirk's phaser rifle too far away for Kirk to recover it promptly (the parabolic arc looked very long and shallow, we never heard it hit the ground). Coupled with Dehner's warning to Kirk after Mitchell and Dehner's struggle ("Hurry! You haven't much time!") and Kirk probably thought that his only option was to try to kill Mitchell with his bare hands. Or, perhaps he was simply trying to incapacitate him until another solution could be devised.

Either way, the fistfight never felt forced or contrived to me. In fact, unforced and uncontrived fistfights are my favorite kind.

__________________
For the world is hollow, and I have touched the sky...

And, then I went back at watched the clip with the fistfight and saw that the rifle was actually only a few meters away...my bad.

Although, it landed in a place Kirk wouldn't have seen when he began fighting Mitchell. It's possible he didn't know where the rifle was until he and Mitchell took the fight over that big boulder and down the hill.

Still not contrived!

__________________
For the world is hollow, and I have touched the sky...